Netting Crow (Blackhawks Fan-Fiction)

Chapter 13

The United Center was just starting to buzz with the excited sounds of fans as they began to file into the stadium.  My parents weren't here yet, and I didn't really expect them too early.  Knowing them they would arrive just before puck drop.  I went about my usual pre-game ritual.  I stopped in the Blackhawks store.  I decided I was going to buy myself something as it was my birthday.  I looked around and finally settled on a cute Blackhawks three-quarter length sleeved shirt and a red Blackhawks bracelet.  After paying, I headed down to the glass.

I found an empty seat to the right of the net.  I sat at the end of Row 2 as I didn't want to get harassed by the usher lady again.  As I sat waiting for the pre-game skate, I began to get nervous.  I kept thinking "Would Corey skate over?  Would he look for me?"  And then I felt bad that I expected him to pay attention to me; he was getting ready for his game and his focus should be on that; however, I still really wanted him to notice me.  I didn't yet see any of the wives, but they usually didn't come down until right before warm-up started.

Finally "Here Come the Hawks" started playing and out skated Corey, straight toward his net.  He grabbed a puck and fired it toward the net.  It landed squarely in the back of the net.  As he looked up from the ice, we made eye contact.  I smiled, and even though he had his mask on, I could tell he smiled back.  He skated over to the glass and motioned for me to come to the glass.  I pointed to the mean usher lady and made a sad face.  He tapped on the glass with his stick.  "Umm, excuse me?" I said to the usher lady. "He wants your attention."

She turned around and came face to face with Corey Crawford, who pointed at me and then at the first row.  "Ma'am, he wants you to move down to the first row." She said.

"Great.  Thanks."  I replied.

Corey put his glove hand up to the glass and I put mine against it.  Then Shaw skated right into Corey, and with that his attention was back on the warm-up.  I was smiling from ear-to-ear.  That was better than anything I could have expected.  Shaw came by and tapped on the glass, and Sharpie came by and waved.  I hadn't yet met Patrick Kane, but he skated by and slowed down as he checked me out, probably sizing me up.  Then he nodded, smiled, and skated off.

I didn't even notice the wives come down until I saw Bryan, Sharpie, and Nik all at the glass.  I looked in the direction of the wives, and caught the eye of Abby Sharp.  She smiled and waved, and I waved back.  I was going to walk over toward her, but Corey came back over to the glass.  I took that opportunity to snap our picture in a selfie.  It's still one of my absolute favorite pictures of us.  Then he skated off toward the bench as warm-up was wrapping up.   As I was gathering up my stuff to head to my seat, I heard a voice ask, "Excuse me?  Are you Corey Crawford's girlfriend?"

I turned around to see a tall, dark haired woman standing in front of me. I recognized her immediately.   Dominique or Dom as everyone knew her.  She was the "friends with benefits" girl.  The "I want to be Corey's girlfriend, but he won't admit to having a girlfriend" girl.

Crap!  I'm not witty enough to handle situations like this. I look toward the ice, but Corey is already in the locker room, plus what could he do through the glass.

"I don't know how that's any of your business as I don't know you." I replied.

"If you were his girlfriend, you would be sitting in his seats. And since I'm sitting there, well...I'll let you put 2 and 2 together." She replied.  So that's why Corey looked so uncomfortable talking about his seats.  She was sitting in them tonight.

"I bought my own tickets. I'm independent like that."  It's then that I notice her looking me up and down.  "Can I help you with anything else?"

"I was just wondering what you have that I don't have."  She states with a smirk.  Okay, now I'm pissed and I'm about to wipe that smirk off her face.